Brighton and Hove Albion's second-half comeback against West Ham United on the final day of the season pocketed the Seagulls a healthy £11m.
The south coast outfit were trailing 1-0 at the break but scored three goals in the second 45 to round off an impressive campaign to register their highest ever finish. The three points lifted them from 13th to 9th and, such are the riches on offer in the Premier League, earned them a huge bonus courtesy of their league position.
Joel Veltman equalised for Graham Potter's side five minutes into the second-half before Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck both scored in the final ten minutes to earn the three points after the visitors had taken the lead courtesy of Michail Antonio. A game that, appeared to have little on it other than pride for Brighton, had ended up being hugely lucrative.
Potter said following the final day win: “I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved. They are an amazing group of players to work with, with brilliant support from everyone behind the scenes. It hasn’t been plain sailing this season. There have been ups and downs but we have stuck at it and finished really strongly.”
“We wanted to finish well but I didn’t feel we played to the level we can in the first half so we made some adjustments, got on top and scored some good goals. It was a fantastic second-half by us. It summed up our spirit and character.
“It was great to finish with two good home wins. It will make our supporters happy and they can look forward to a happy summer. We can be proud of what we can but then there’s the challenge of improving. We’ll enjoy a holiday and then look to do better next season.”
This term Brighton won four of their opening five and finished equally as strong, losing just one of their last nine. The Seagulls have taken points off Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool this term. Potter saw his side come from 2-0 down to claim a point at Anfield.
He also presided over the recent 4-0 mauling against the Red Devils at the Amex. Brighton did their bit to upset the top four race - winning at both the Gunners and Tottenham in successive weeks. Captain Lewis Dunk said on the season: “As a club we wanted to get into the top ten, and to accomplish it is brilliant – but we have to go again next year and try and do even better.
“You have got to have ambition but the Premier League can be hard, as we found out a few weeks ago. The international break in March came at a good time for us. We worked hard and finished the season incredibly strongly.”
